Uconn

Connecticut's Breanna Stewart, center, snags a rebound while guarded by Hartford's Christie Michals, left, and Taylor Clark, right, during the second half of an NCAA women's college basketball game in West Hartford, Conn., Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012. Connecticut won 102-45. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

WEST HARTFORD — It is much too early to project what the beginning of Breanna Stewart's UConn career means in terms of the type of player she will ultimately be with the Huskies. But there are certainly indications she will be able to score with the best in program history.

With her season-best 27 points Saturday against Hartford, Stewart now has 169 points through the first 10 games of her career. That's more than any UConn player ever scored in 10 games. She surpassed the 165 scored by Maya Moore.

"That is what scorers do," Auriemma said. "They go into a game and they figure out how to score points. That is what she does. It is the same thing I said about Maya when Maya was a freshman. If Breanna Stewart ever learns how to play basketball, where her shots are coming from, when and how, she is going to be really good. So I'm not surprised she has scored a lot of points."

Stewart leads this year's team in scoring at 16.9 points per game.

"I am just going into each game just trying to play my game," Stewart said. "I'm not trying to force shots or force anything like that, but if I am open I am going to shoot it. What else are you supposed to do when you are open?"

Last year's consensus national high school player of the year said it has certainly taken more work to score at the college level, but she is willing to put in the effort to get results like she has.

"In high school, you can pretty much get whatever shot you want," Stewart said. "Here, obviously defenses are better and you really have to work for your shot. What I have to keep working on is to just keep working for my shot, whether it is setting a screen to get someone else open and then getting myself open. I think (it's important) just staying within the offense and shooting when I'm open."

Getting closer: Auriemma said that until Saturday morning's shootaround, he thought injured freshman Morgan Tuck might play, but she had a minor setback with her bruised knee after two good days of practice.

He said she has been practicing and then getting the knee evaluated to see if she can go the next day. Some days she can, and some days she can't because of swelling, but she is progressing.

"That's the way it's going to be," Auriemma said. "But every day it gets better and better. We need her on the court. We've got to have her back. There's a reason why she led that team (2012 USA Basketball U-18) in scoring instead of Breanna Stewart. She's just really good. She started that first exhibition because she was so much better than everybody else.''

Tuck led the entire FIBA Americas U18 Championship in scoring at 17.8 while Stewart averaged 14.0.

Long-term prognosis: Auriemma said Kiah Stokes' shin stress reaction injury is taking longer to heal, but he won't rule her out for the Huskies' next game, at Stanford on Dec. 29.

"I hope," Auriemma said. "I hope Oregon or Stanford. But I'm not holding out high hopes for it. But you never know."

Jefferson ill: Moriah Jefferson played only three minutes of Saturday's game and didn't take a shot before coming out of the game. Auriemma said she has been ill since Thursday. She tried to play through it, but felt sick once she got out on the court so he sat her the rest of the way.

The USA Connection: Rizzotti, who coached Stewart this past summer with USA Basketball, said she isn't surprised Stewart is having such a great freshman season with the Huskies. She went into Saturday's game second on the team in scoring (15.8) and leading the team in rebounding (7.2).

"I wasn't surprised when Maya (Moore) did it after coaching her in USA Basketball, and I am certainly not surprised at all with Breanna," Rizzotti said. "She is special. She is competitive. She is driven. She has that unique combination of somebody that already has so many gifts combined with somebody who never settles. She wants to be better every day. So I am not surprised that she is having the success she is having. I am not surprised when she struggles because she is a freshman, but she can bounce back from that and be fine."

Well-rounded star: Rizzotti also coached Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis this summer with USA Basketball's U-19 national team. She said that while Mosqueda-Lewis spent much of her freshman season making her mark as a 3-point shooter, she fully expected the sophomore to emerge as a much better all-around player for the Huskies this season.

"I always felt like rebounding was one of the best parts of her game," Rizzotti said. "She gets in and contests every shot that goes up. She wants the ball. She wants to find ways to put herself in good positions. She is not afraid to post up. So I think at the level I was coaching, she was more comfortable doing a lot more."

Rizzotti said it wasn't surprising that Mosqueda-Lewis simply distinguished herself as a shooter coming out of high school because it is such a big transition going to a place like UConn.

"So that first year, you really just do what you are best at because you don't really want to go outside of your comfort zone," Rizzotti said. "And now that she is comfortable, she is showing everybody all the different parts of her game. She wasn't just a shooter for me. She scored in a lot of different ways, and she was very competitive and she played with ice in her veins and wanted to take the big shot. She was never afraid to keep shooting. So I saw all that potential in her when she was on my team."

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